Sunday 6th December
Race Day 14
Another fine sunrise in paradise, revealing a beautiful blue sky, and already warm at 0830 so going to be hot, hot, hot! Despite the reality of not being able to catch challenger 1, the Challenger 3 crew are still very focused on making the best possible finish time and beating the previous Challenger Fleet record crossing time of 16 days! Also everyone is keen to keep our place in the overall rankings, so still all to race for.
It is also dawning on us all that today is effectively the last day of the Atlantic crossing adventure, and that by early evening we will be tied up in Rodney Bay. Upside, Rum cocktails all round! (True to say that conversation has turned slightly to parties and dancing)
Last night against a fantastic backdrop of stars and the Milky Way, Jenny saw a “green firework shooting star” which was incredibly bright and exploded into a million shards of luminous green confetti. Shooting Stars were abundant and everybody got to make a wish….. I wonder how many wished to repeat this amazing experience of an ocean crossing. It was probably the best stargazing night so far with the moon not putting in an appearance until the early hours. We will all miss the stars as light pollution limits what we can see in the heavens.
Big thanks to “Rattie” and Nina for the coffee maker which has been a great hit and it looks like this one will actually make it across the Atlantic although the Spanish crew members think Dave needs to “man up” and drink proper strength coffee!
Comment has been passed about the volume of biscuits consumed by the watches. It appears the on board stocks were supposed to last for the return trip to the UK. No chance, but we all know who the biscuit monsters are!
At sunrise on Sunday 6th December a very special moment. The Yankee 1 which blew and had been repaired by the crew was hoisted for the first time since its repair. Would it hold? Carefully it was hoisted and then gingerly sheeted in, catching the wind. It held and a great cheer went up. Let’s hope it gets us into St Lucia OK.
Dave’s joke of the day is another cheese joke… sigh… “What cheese do you use to get a bear out of a tree? Camembert!”
And last but not least, murderous intent is still alive and kicking (pun?) on Challenger 3 with 2 more deaths overnight!
Consuelo and Steven
Some months ago twelve individuals with some limited sailing experience and a lingering desire for a more adventurous sailing experience or to cross an ocean responded to the First Class Sailing website and signed up to do the 2015 Atlantic Race for Cruisers (ARC).
Three weeks ago those twelve individuals arrived in Portsmouth in 40 knots of lashing rain for a training weekend aboard Challenger 4, a sister ship of their race boat, “The weather won’t be like this” I promised them. “Imagine sunshine, 30 degree temperatures and a consistent 18 knot downwind breeze”. Some were sceptical of the adventure ahead as we launched the spinnaker in the confines of the Solent and dropped it at the top of Southampton Water before continuing to beat in thirty knots of wind and pouring winter rain.
Two weeks ago those same twelve individuals flew into Las Palmas, Grand Canaria and joined Tall Ships Challenger 3. They were greeted by their watch leaders Keith and Kirstie, volunteers with Tall Ships, and Dave and myself. “See – sunshine”. Now we just have a truck load of fruit and veg, twelve meals of frozen meat and a dozen or so boxes of juice and milk to store and we will be ready….
The start of our race also saw the start of the melding of the twelve individuals into a single, efficient, relentless racing team who have raced their 72 foot steel monster of a boat across 2700 miles of the Atlantic Ocean.
The spirit of that team was aptly demonstrated this morning when their hard work and single minded dedication to the race and our Challenger 3 home was rewarded with a cheer as the Yankee 1 sail was launched with the 8 meter hand stitched repair, still bearing the blood stains of many a pricked finger, proudly standing the pressure of driving the 47 ton beast through the water at 10 knots.
We have crossed an ocean, but we have also forged a race team from twelve individuals who have benefitted much, much more than simply ticking off an item on their personal bucket list.
Well done crew of Challenger 3 !
Ricky (skipper)